How much do you spend on your DC's at xmas?

[CharlieBoo]

Just interested as am having a nightmare with my two. My ds is 5.8 and is having a ds and lego police station, both of which cost over £200.00, this is before a game has been bought for the ds or any stocking stuff...or the little bits and pieces. All a lot of money, but in terms of wrapping up it looks sod all. Compare this to 18 month old dd who has big boxes, dolly's, buggy's, coupe car and it looks loads but has actually cost me half as much!

How do others of you do it with your dc's? I don't want it to look like dd has got loads more than ds and for that to register with him, but tbh he has had loads spent on him but he isn't old enough to realise and thinks he can ask Santa for what he wants...

I feel a bit .

DD is 3 and we usually spend around £400 on her for Christmas. Both DH and I work very hard and spend within our means.

we've got DS (3.5) a second hand left-handed guitar (£5), then off ebay a hoopla set (£5), and a wooden cooker (£5), plus a lantern for his room (£8).

DD (5 months) is getting a giant wooden rainbow (£50) which I imagine DS will appropriate pretty sharpish, and a secondhand cloth kitty doll off ebay (£7). so around £80 between them, plus stockings, so realistically about £100 all in.

I was worried I'd bought too much and they'd be overwhelmed. Feel a little better (and quite a bit stingier) after reading this thread.

DP and I are 'getting each other' a vax.

WTF is a giant wooden rainbow?

ds is over 3y9m.

i must be well and truly in the tight corner as so far i've bought him a micromachines city, a tub of dinosaurs, a pot of lego and a ben10 duvet cover. coming to about £40 and can't see me spending more than another £20 on bits and pieces.

i personally believe children, especially preschoolers, appreciate what they get and focus better on a few new things to play with that they'll really use and enjoy than being overwhelmed with a mountain of crap where every item loses value by being one of 100. don't know if i wrote that clearly.

what i mean is a few nice new things will be well loved and well played with. go beyond that and it's just crap to litter the house and devalue what they have.

mind you i do have family around and already know what GP's have bought him a car racing track and a load of other bits, my sister will have bought him several presents also.

i guess that makes a difference. if we had no family and i didn't know that overall he was going to have all this blumming stuff to fit into the house already i'd probably buy him more.

i also tend to not save up to christmas but give him things when i see stuff i think he'd like and need.

That's what I feel too Santa/Satan (love the name)

I haven't got DD toys, she's got loads already, I've bought her games instead mostly - so we can play together.

we have spent about £100 on our ds 18ms but thats a cozy coupe a farm a tool bench some books and a bag/suitcase so think we have done quite well. will just pick up a few stocking fillers for him ie chocolate coins couple of £1 tesco cars that sort of stuff.

We have tried to spend simular amount on dss 4 but have found everything we had planned to get have been in the sales which was really lucky. Got him a leapster for only £30 and the games are bogof in toys r us. And will also do him a stocking.

i dont think it is fair to say that if u go mad at christmas and buy lots of presents for dcs it somehow means u value ur time with them any less...

Very little.

Haven't bought any presents yet, but think I know what we'll be getting;
Ds1 (9) - Dr Who set of Doctor figures that he wants - £40
Dd (7) - roller skates - £30
Ds2 (4) - Hornby electric train - £40
Ds3 (6 mths) - no idea! - something cheap though, he needs nothing!

We then do stockings with a tube of smarties, or something like that, chocolate money, pens/pencils/crayons, stuff to stock up the craft box, satsuma, possibly some hair bobbles for dd, stickers etc.

So we don't send masses, but I hope the kids enjoy it and get things they like!

('send masses' = spend masses )

I will just add that we spend so much becuase the boys only have 1 grandad and 2 aunts to buy them pressies apart fromus, were not lucky enough to have reems of family to buy for them.
We always live within our means what ever time of year.

I have two DS's, 10 and 7. We spend between £150-200 on them each, including stockings, books, pyjamas etc. Neither of us comes from a big family, and there are no other DC to buy for. All in, christmas present buying costs us about £600.

I have spent £300 each on my dds, one 5 and the other 7 but they don't get anything from family at all so it's only what we buy. They have each got a dsi which took up nearly half of that amount so still doesn't look like loads! No we can't really afford it but i have gone without for months to spend this amount!

Well our spend per child has actually gone down since last time I posted!

PIL asked what the DC wanted for Christmas. DC were adamant that they wanted presents to open rather than money/vouchers. But we couldn't think of anything else that they really wante/need. So we have "sold" one of the presents that we have bought each of them to the PIL.

Which brings each of the DC's totals to around £60.

We spend £300 per child all in. Main pressy of bike, scooter etc usually costs half of budget, then I buy 3 other large presents, like games or lego etc, and £50 to do a stocking.

I think of it more in terms of the number and size of presents IYSWIM.

So I buy one big present (such as scooter, camera, big tub of lego) and then a few little ones and a stocking.

This year have got DD (4) a camera, a few DVDs, some clothes, and some stocking fillers.
DS (20m) has a big playmobil set, some books, a few clothes, and stocking fillers.

Comes to less than £100 each this year, but that is not deliberate.

DS is 3 and I have spent about £100.

I guess that sounds a lot but most of it (and my niece's present) was paid for in Tesco clubcard vouchers!

Apart from DS I only buy for about 6 other people - we have a V small family and set a £20 limit for presents. My friends and I have a pact not to buy for each other and each other's kids which is fab!

Blimey! HOW much do some people spend !!!! DD1 is 2 and we have bought her a doll from ebay for £20 and plan to get her a couple of small extra bits, e.g. books for an extra £10-20. Her stocking will have fruit and maybe some stickers etc in it. DD2 will be 5 months and have bought her a dress for £15 - that will be it.

And it definitely doesn't feel like we are being stingy, we are not poor and will have a lovely Christmas with all the smells and bells. Just don't see the point in spending crazy amounts of money on presents. Does it even mean anything to the children anymore if they get so many expensive presents each birthday and Christmas?

Maybe this is why we are debt free....

Last year I spent around 10.00 each! They are young though (under 5) and have no idea, so...maybe it will get more. If you were worried about dd's looking 'more', I would have got dd a bit less as she wouldn't have a clue how much things cost. Keep one back for her bday if I were you. Sounds like a lot for one kid.

vega, but I think it is veeeeeeeery common that people overspend at xmas. Maybe not you, but a lot of people...

I agree with Vegasmum...also it doesn't make you a bad parent for spending a lot on your children as some posts suggest. It's Christmas,why shouldn't they have nice things? They're off father Christmas anyway not mummy and daddy. Big presents at birthday and Christmas doesn't spoil a child-it's how they are treated on a daily basis that had a bigger impact

We spend within our means. (as I said earlier around £100 total for 2 dc) have to say I don't think we'd spend much more even if we could, but that's just personal choice (if we were better off I'd spend it on clubs/activities for DD)

I agree it's the day to day attitude that spoils a child, not just Xmas.

I don't think just comparing figures gives an accurate idea of how much people are spending on their children. Some parents are quite into buying treats throughout the year, others like saving it for one or two bigger presents- neither is necessarily very extravagant (or very stingy). Personally, I'd rather scrimp a bit on things like coffees or clothes for myself during the rest of the year to buy dcs or dh something that can be of lasting value to them - and in the case of DVDs or books it's often something that we can all enjoy, which is an added bonus. It says nothing at all about how much I value family time at Christmas or the religious significance or anything at all.